The Duel

Posted in The Duel with tags , , on January 19, 2024 by Jarrod Boyle

The Antagonist

J- kicked the football towards the sun, leaping into the air as the ball sprang from his extended foot. It continued to climb as he returned to earth, his kicking leg gracefully extended as if it willed the ball forward on its ascent, its slow pendulous flight in sharp contrast to the chaotic spread of the players beneath it.

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The Duel

Posted in The Duel with tags , , , , , on January 10, 2024 by Jarrod Boyle

Dragged Backwards – Into The Past – By The Balls

You’re never ready for these sorts of things when they overtake you. It’s probably part of the reason they fester in your mind for so long afterwards.

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Maestro

Posted in Film, Netflix with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 1, 2024 by Jarrod Boyle

Watching a narrative film made in Hollywood is a lot like riding a skateboard downhill; you look to find your point of balance and once that’s established, gravity will do the rest. That said, I found Maestro a difficult film to find my balance on.  

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‘Keyboard Warrior’: The Loathsome Andrew Tate

Posted in fighting, Kickboxing, Observation, violence against women with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 11, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle

I first became aware of Andrew Tate during a particularly irritating conversation with a friend of mine who knows absolutely nothing whatsoever about kickboxing, beyond the fact that I’m involved with it.

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De Palma Goes For Gold

Posted in Film, Pretensions toward cultural theory with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 18, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle

I was surprised I’d never seen Brian De Palma’s 1984 film Body Double until I discovered it available for free-to-air viewing on SBS iView last night. My interest was piqued the night before when I watched Noah Baumbach’s doco De Palma, recommended by a friend.

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Better Than the Real Thing? Love in Blade Runner 2049

Posted in Film with tags , , , , , , , on April 23, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle

‘…On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth…’

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera.

The protagonist, a blade runner named K, is in love with his AI. She’s essentially a hologram, and in a pivotal scene, she organises a ‘pleasure model’ to come to his apartment so she can merge herself with it in order to make love to him.

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‘The Men Who Came Too Late and Stayed Too Long.’

Posted in Film, Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags , , , , , on March 25, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle

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What I like about Peckinpah is that you never know what you’re going to get. You’re certainly not there to be ‘entertained’. Like David Fincher says, it’s going to leave a scar.

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‘The Men Who Came Too Late and Stayed Too Long.’

Posted in Film, Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle

1.

Surgery is a major life event. I had a hip replacement, which means full derailment; it’s a paradigm shift quite unlike any other. And most of the time, paradigm shifts find you stranded in a world that’s changed and requires that you develop new skills in order to cope. In my case, I return to the world with a certain ability that I had lost, namely, the ability to walk and stand square and strong, without pain.

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Point Break: Redux

Posted in Film, Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 18, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle

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Once he discovers his newfound friends and mentor are actually the ex-presidents, Johnny draws his line. During a botched stakeout shortly after, Utah reveals his identity when he pursues them in an attempt to capture.

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Point Break: Redux

Posted in Film, Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags , , , , , , , , , , on February 3, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle

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I had very little memory of the film when I switched it on to pass a recent Saturday evening, and was concerned that watching an ‘old’ film from my teenaged years had become a recreational activity worthy of my time.

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